Details On Led Zeppelin’s ‘Song Remains The Same’ Reshoot Revealed

Many Led Zeppelin fans know that their film, 'The Song Remains the Same' isn't entirely from the band's three-night stay at Madison Square Garden in 1973. But a new article goes into detail about the re-creation of the concerts that they did at Shepperton Studios a year later.

Over at Dangerous Minds, they describe how the problems started after manager Peter Grant fired original director Joe Massott. As they sorted through Massot's footage, they realized that they had a mess on their hands. They brought in Peter Clifton, who suggested the reshoot at Shepperton, using the same outfits and setlist (John Paul Jones wore a wig to cover up his new haircut).

"On a playback screen," the piece says. "The band could watch themselves in the earlier footage—keeping their movements and positions in roughly the same general areas—and play along to the MSG soundtrack. So what we mostly see in the finished film are Clifton’s close-ups and medium distance footage of the band members shot at Shepperton, but intercut with Massot’s footage of the trappings of MSG, wide shots, shots framed from behind the band towards the audience and so forth. Once you know all this, it’s screamingly obvious what was shot where."

Now that the story of 'The Song Remains the Same' has been cleared up, maybe they can figure out who stole $200,000 out of their hotel safety deposit box during that stand at Madison Square Garden.